Heretofore, a game machine employing a television receiver has a main body portion connected to the television receiver used as a display device, and an operating device connected to this main body portion of the game machine over a connection cable for controlling the display character displayed on the display screen of the television receiver.
The main body portion of the game machine has enclosed therein a disc driving unit for reproducing an optical disc as a recording medium carrying a recorded game program and a picture processing device for displaying the display character along with a background scene on the screen of the television receiver in accordance with the game program recorded on the optical disc.
Plural operating buttons are arranged in the operating device connected to the main body portion of the game machine. The user operates these operating buttons provided on the operating device for entering to the picture processing device the command information concerning the movement of the display character displayed on the display screen of the television receiver for controlling the direction of movement of the display character in accordance with the command information for carrying out the game.
The operating device used in this sort of the game machine is used by being gripped with hand or finger. That is, such operating device is used which has, on its one side, a direction command operating unit including a cross-shaped or circular direction command operating button and which also has, on its other side, a function setting unit including plural function setting/executing buttons for setting or executing the operating functions of the display characters. The direction command operator includes four switches arranged at right angles to one another and having operating units adapted for being contacted with or moved away from associated contacts. These switches are selectively turned on and off by the cross-shaped or circular direction command operating buttons for moving the display characters. For example, the display character is moved in a direction along which is arrayed the one of the four switches that has been turned on. The function setting/executing unit has switches arranged in association with the plural function setting/executing buttons. By turning on the switch associated with the function setting/executing button, the function of the display character allocated to the button is set or the function proper to the display character is executed.
Since the direction command operating unit of the operating device simply affords a command signal for moving the display character in a direction along which is arrayed the one of the four switches arranged at right angle to each other, the operating unit cannot issue the command information of rotating the display character as it is advanced, or of changing the line of sight of the display character. The result is that difficulties are encountered in constructing the game program employing a display character performing variegated movements.
On the other hand, since the switches making up the direction command operating unit merely issue the command information of controlling the movement of the display character by being turned on and off by actuation of the direction command operating buttons, the display character performs intermittent movements, while being unable to perform a series of continuous movements.
Thus, such an operating device has been proposed having an operating unit to which can be entered a command signal enabling the display character to be moved as it rotates or as it changes its speed or enabling the display character to change its form or configuration.
An operating device of this type has been disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 7-88252.
However, if a large number of operating units are provided in the operating device, it becomes difficult to smoothly select the operating units.